146 



FISH ENEMIES 



They have been kept in aquaria with them without doing damage. 

 On general principles, however, it is best to exclude all beetles, large 

 or small. 



Fig. 139. Water Scavenger Beetle (Life size) 



Giant Water Bug (Bclostomatida), also known as the Electric 

 Light Bug, is one of our common bugs, both on land and in water. 

 Flying clumsily but strongly before electric lights, or patiently await- 

 ing a victim at the bottom of a pond, the bug is one and the same. 

 They are fiercely predaceous and very powerful. The smaller sizes 



140 



Figs. 140 and 141. Giant Water Bugs (B. serphus and B. amcncaua). The 

 Smaller a Male With Eggs on Back (Life size) 



are the more to be feared, as they are not so easily seen. While this 

 is a vicious enemy, it is not one that frequently gets into the fish tank 

 except by flight, and as only the adults fly they are easily detected by 

 their size. In large outdoor rearing pools or lakes they are a very 

 practical menace. The colors range from clear, dark reddish brown 

 to dull olive. With some of the smaller genera, Scrplius and Zaitlia it 

 was supposed that females lay the eggs on their own backs. Some 

 writers have accepted this popular misconception without investiga- 

 tion. It has been fully established that the female fastens her eggs 

 on the back of an unwilling male, who only submits to the indignity 

 after a struggle. 



Water Scorpion (Ncpidcc). We have here another of the insects 

 spending most of its time in aquatic dirt and rubbish awaiting inno- 



